dhildreth Posted January 20, 2008 Share Posted January 20, 2008 I have a 2005 subaru Legacy GT LTD that the airbag is always on. The dealer says it throws code 29 and they needed to flash the airbag computer, that didn't help. Now they say I need a new passenger seat base for $1800. I asked if they would be sure it would be fixed and they said it should be. Any suggestions would really help. Doug Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CodyItaliano Posted January 21, 2008 Share Posted January 21, 2008 well that is a lot of money to fix this problem. i would definately get a second opinion from a quality shop if you can find one that will be able to diagnose this type of problem. i would also try and get some kind of promisary note stating that their diagnosis is acurate and not going to set you back for their mistake. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SLegacy99 Posted January 21, 2008 Share Posted January 21, 2008 Gosh on a 3 year old car? Seems like that should still be covered, especially since its a safety feature. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dhildreth Posted January 21, 2008 Author Share Posted January 21, 2008 I wish they would cover it, I have 184,000 miles on the car so the warranty was up 124,000 miles ago! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ejoy1220 Posted January 21, 2008 Share Posted January 21, 2008 I wish they would cover it, I have 184,000 miles on the car so the warranty was up 124,000 miles ago! Holy smokes, you drove the hell out of that thing. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Voytech Posted January 21, 2008 Share Posted January 21, 2008 Which dealer is this? Perhaps you should visit one that doesn't want to blatantly rip you off? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dhildreth Posted January 25, 2008 Author Share Posted January 25, 2008 Well the dealer was right. I picked up two front matching GT seats from the junkyard and did the swap myself and after changing the passenger seat I reconnected the battery and everything worked as it should. I would have to say the dealer really helped me a lot. After traveling 6 hours to a junkyard to find he didn't know how to tell if his seat was power (what a waste of time). I found another junkyard and got the vin of the car, the dealer was nice enough to run the vins and be sure the seats were a exact match. I then made a trip that was worth making. The dealer is Keene Subaru in NH!!! So for way less the the airbag base I got two almost new seats and replaced everything. Hopefully it will be good for another 184,000 miles. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
spongemonster Posted January 25, 2008 Share Posted January 25, 2008 Sounds like it worked out well for you. I've also heard about a problem with a tension spring on the side of the seat causing similar issues. In your case though maybe the seat was just worn out. So what else has worn out on the car in those miles? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bimmer Posted January 26, 2008 Share Posted January 26, 2008 Now they say I need a new passenger seat base for $1800. Sounds like the airbag unit in the seat was bad... Of course the dealer has to tell you to replace it rather than just live without it, but I'm sure that there was some way to wire around the side-impact bag and fix the airbag warning light without replacing the entire seat. Ben Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ejoy1220 Posted March 10, 2008 Share Posted March 10, 2008 Dealer is telling me it will cost me $1900 to fix my airbag light. $1650 is for the part alone. Car only has 59,000 miles on it, and they're telling me that it's going to cost ~$2000 just to make a critical safety feature function like it should. This might be the last Subaru I buy for a very long time. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bimmer Posted March 11, 2008 Share Posted March 11, 2008 Dealer is telling me it will cost me $1900 to fix my airbag light. $1650 is for the part alone.... they're telling me that it's going to cost ~$2000 just to make a critical safety feature function like it should. Huh? The airbag light is NOT a critical safety feature, it's just a warning that there's something amiss in the airbag system. What IS wrong with your airbag(s)? Is it something that you can live with (without?)? Ben Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ejoy1220 Posted March 12, 2008 Share Posted March 12, 2008 Huh? The airbag light is NOT a critical safety feature, it's just a warning that there's something amiss in the airbag system. What IS wrong with your airbag(s)? Is it something that you can live with (without?)? Ben Need a new seat frame in order for it to work correctly again apparently according to the dealer. They said there is a chance that the airbag might not function correctly if it is not repaired (in the event of a crash god forbid). I know the light isn't a critical safety feature, I was referring to the airbag itself. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Voytech Posted March 12, 2008 Share Posted March 12, 2008 You won't pass state inspection with the airbag light flashing... at least here in NJ. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BigT Posted March 12, 2008 Share Posted March 12, 2008 Need a new seat frame in order for it to work correctly again apparently according to the dealer. They said there is a chance that the airbag might not function correctly if it is not repaired (in the event of a crash god forbid). I know the light isn't a critical safety feature, I was referring to the airbag itself. It is probably the Occupancy detector system. This only affects the airbag in the seat. The other two airbags will work properly. I suggest you do what the original poster did and find a seat in a junkyard and swap it out. You must find one from the exact same year however, because the seats changed from year to year and so did the wiring underneath. Good luck! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bimmer Posted March 12, 2008 Share Posted March 12, 2008 You won't pass state inspection with the airbag light flashing... at least here in NJ. Again, making the light stop flashing is no big deal... The question is whether it's worth fixing the airbag itself. ejoy says that this is a "critical safety feature," but technically airbags are "supplementary" safety features. I've driven lots of "safe" cars that didn't have any side airbags or even passenger airbags. It's your money, and your decision, Ben Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Voytech Posted March 12, 2008 Share Posted March 12, 2008 Let me get this straight... What part of the seat is broken? The weight sensor? If so, the front passenger airbag won't go out in an accident. I'd call that a critical safety measure. Or am I wrong? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bimmer Posted March 13, 2008 Share Posted March 13, 2008 Let me get this straight... What part of the seat is broken? The weight sensor? If so, the front passenger airbag won't go out in an accident. I'd call that a critical safety measure. Or am I wrong? I'm not sure that the front passenger airbag is a "critical" safety feature. If it is just the weight sensor, then it seems like it ought to be easy enough to hot-wire the sensor to always think that there's somebody in the seat. Somebody mentioned it might just be the torso side-impact airbag that won't deploy... I don't know how the side-impact bags are connected to the seat base. Ben Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BigT Posted March 14, 2008 Share Posted March 14, 2008 I'm not sure that the front passenger airbag is a "critical" safety feature. If it is just the weight sensor, then it seems like it ought to be easy enough to hot-wire the sensor to always think that there's somebody in the seat. Somebody mentioned it might just be the torso side-impact airbag that won't deploy... I don't know how the side-impact bags are connected to the seat base. Ben I'll try to answer some of these questions. First, the OCD, or Occupancy Detector System, has a wiring harness that connects to a cluster of wires underneath the seat, and then to the airbag control module. This will determine whether or not the airbag in the passenger seat will go off in a crash by detecting the weight and 'physique' of the object or person in the seat. There are three types of airbags in the legacy: 1. side curtain airbags that deploy from the A-pillar 2. front air bags (I think we all know where they deploy from) 3. airbags in the sides of the driver and passenger seats The OCD affects some, or all of these on the passenger side. Because of the complexity of the OCD system, no one has yet been able to 'hot wire' the system into thinking that there is always someone in the seat. This is further complicated by the fact that not all model years have the same system. For instance, the 05 OCD is a completely different system than the 07 (and 08 I imagine). If there is something wrong with the system, the airbag light will go off and the car will incessantly beep. This will not allow the car to pass inspection in most places. As for airbags being a critical safety feature, well that is in the eye of the beholder. However I imagine the same thing was said about seatbelts at some time. None of this matters however if you're either dead, or your car won't pass inspection. So try to fix it if you can. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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